According to a new Fox News Poll, a large majority of voters in the United States favor legalizing marijuana.

The poll found that 59% of voters support marijuana legalization, up from 51% in 2015, and 46% in 2013. The polling shows that just 32% of voters oppose marijuana legalization, down from 49% in 2013. Millennials (72%) have the highest level of support, followed by Gen Xers (60%) and baby boomers (52%).

“This is a massive shift in opinion over a very short period. As more states legalize marijuana without the negative consequences opponents have warned about, support will likely continue to increase,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Daron Shaw, his Republican counterpart.

Majorities of very conservative voters (61%) and white evangelical Christians (53%) oppose legalization. However, opposition among those groups is down 14 and 16 points, respectively, from five years ago.

“When you look at the growing percentage of people who say they support legalizing marijuana, especially among those under 30 years of age, it’s obvious why the Democrats are anxious to get pot initiatives on the ballot in statewide elections,” says Shaw.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,002 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from January 21-23, 2018. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

While such esteemed authors as Stephen Davis and the late Timothy White penned terrific biographies of Robert Nesta Marley, no writer is more knowledgeable about the Reggae King than Roger Steffens. It took him many years, but he finally completed his book: So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley (W. W. Norton).

Steffens is curator of the world’s largest reggae archives, which bursts the seams of his modest Echo Park bungalow in Los Angeles. The Vietnam veteran and photographer/archivist/historian has been an obsessive fan since he was mesmerized by a 1973 Rolling Stone review of the Wailers’ Catch a Fire. The next day, he watched the seminal Jimmy Cliff film, The Harder They Come, which cemented his lifelong obsession with reggae.

The author has created a reggae Rashomon in telling Marley’s story through more than 75 different interviews that frequently contradict each another. You won’t learn too much about Marley’s personal life or his series of relationships, though there’s plenty of input from Cindy Breakspeare, the former Miss World and mother of Marley’s son Damian, who Bob famously holed up with in London after the attempt on his life in Kingston in 1976.

Canada is moving full steam ahead with its plans to legalize recreational marijuana this summer. The federal government, however, has delegated much of the responsibility for ironing out the details of regulation to individual provinces.

In November, Canada’s Department of Finance announced that excise taxes on cannabis flowers would not exceed $1 per gram or 10% of the product’s sale price, whichever is higher, and that marijuana-tax revenue would be divided equally between the provinces and the federal government.

Unhappy with the 50-50 split, provincial leaders came out against the proposed regulations, arguing that since their governments are doing most of the regulatory work, they should receive a larger share of tax revenue.

“The federal government must be smoking something to think it will work for the provinces,” Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci stated. “It’s unacceptable. We need to get into a room together to work this out.”

Quick to respond, Ottawa officials met with officials from the 10 provinces and hammered out an agreement that would give provinces 75% of marijuana-tax revenues for the first two years of legal sales. The provinces …

Cannabis consumption does not have a negative impact on male or female fertility, according to a new study.

The study, titled Marijuana use and fecundability in a North American preconception cohort study, was published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, and published online by the U.S. National Institute of Health. It was conducted by researchers at Boston University’s School of Public Health.

For the study, “Female participants completed a baseline questionnaire on which they reported lifestyle and behavioural factors, including frequency of marijuana use within the previous 2 months.” Male partners “completed an optional baseline questionnaire on similar factors, including marijuana use. Women completed follow-up questionnaires every 8 weeks for 12 months or until pregnancy, initiation of fertility treatment or loss to follow-up, whichever came first.”

After analyzing the data, researchers found that; “In this preconception cohort study, there was little overall association between female or male marijuana use and fecundability.”

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has announced that he will retroactively apply California’s new marijuana legalization law to past criminal charges.

The move will lead to the expungement (removal from criminal records) of more than 3,000 misdemeanor marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. This will be one of the largest batch of expungements in the city’s history.

“Instead of waiting for people to petition — for the community to come out — we have decided that we will do so ourselves,” says Gascón. “We believe it is the right thing to do. We believe it is the just thing to do.”

According to Gascón, prosecutors will also review and potentially expunge 4,940 felony marijuana cases.

The move is made possible thanks to the passage of Proposition 64 in 2016. The initiative legalized the possession, use and licensed distribution of up to an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and older.

According to data compiled by ZipRecruiter, the total number of marijuana industry job posts increased by 445% in 2017, compared to an increase of just 18% one year prior.

“In 2016 alone, nine states made marijuana (either medical or recreational) legal”, states a ZipRecruiter report. “Shortly after, the number of cannabis industry job posts rose dramatically.” According totheir data, “the total number of industry job posts increased by 445% in 2017, compared to an increase of just 18% one year prior.”

The data “also shows that the cannabis industry is growing more rapidly than some of today’s fastest-growing fields. Year over year growth of job posts in the cannabis industry is outpacing both tech (254% growth) and healthcare (70% growth)— by some reports, there are 14% more legal marijuana workers than there are dental hygienists in the U.S.”

ZipRecruit’s Q4 data for 2017 “revealed an especially dramatic leap in the number of new cannabis industry job posts. The number of cannabis industry job posts increased 693% year over year and 79% quarter over quarter. This impressive growth can probably be attributed to SMBs preparing for the kick-off of retail cannabis sales in Q1 of 2018 in huge markets like California.”

The report shows that the top 5 MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas) with the highest total number of job posts in 2017 were concentrated in Colorado, California, and Washington. “When it comes to growth in this industry, we see the most significant growth in states that recently loosened their marijuana laws”, states ZipRecruiter. “Two out of the top 5 MSAs exhibiting the greatest job post growth are located in Florida, which legalized medical cannabis in 2016.”

Below are the MSAs with the most marijuana job openings, according to the report:

When did the effort to end pot prohibition exactly begin in America? Trivial Pursuit fans will learn that the first modern marijuana-law-reform activist was Lowell Eggemeier, who in 1964 lit up a joint in San Francisco’s Hall of Justice and dared police to arrest him, which they did. “I’m starting a campaign to legalize marijuana-smoking,” he declared. A year later, LeMar (short for Legalize Marijuana) was founded (without Eggemeier’s help).

Through numerous interviews with many of the principals involved in early cannabis-law reform efforts, Dufton (pictured above) aptly discusses the origins of the first three separately organized pioneering groups: LeMar and Amorphia, which in short time evolved into the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), founded in 1970.

With NORML leading the public charge, Congress formed a commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in the 1972 Shafer Report. Despite President Richard Nixon disparaging its findings, 11 states decriminalized pot in the ’70s, starting with Oregon in 1973.

The long-term use of marijuana isn’t associated with a decrease in lung function, and may reduce the risk of emphysema, according to a new study published by the journal Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases.

For the study, researchers examined the relationship between the long-term use of marijuana and lung health in 2,300 patients ages 40 to 80.

“This cross-sectional analysis of participants enrolled into the SPIROMICs cohort was performed to investigate the relationships between marijuana use and pulmonary function and symptoms”, states the study, which notes that “Those enrolled were carefully screened and recruited based on tobacco use history and spirometric function”.

According to researchers; “Neither current nor former marijuana use was associated with increased risk of cough, wheeze, or chronic bronchitis when compared to never marijuana users after adjusting for covariates”. Both current and former marijuana use “was associated with significantly less quantitative emphysema”. In agreement with other published studies, researchers “also did not find that marijuana use was associated with more obstructive lung disease.”

The full text of the study can be found by clicking here. It was conducted by researchers from the following institutions:

National Jewish Health, Denver, Colorado

Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora

Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, Sleep and Allergy, Department of Medicine and Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco

Departments of Radiology, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City

University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City

Department of Biostatics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora

Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In a Marin County hotel room, a group of women are giggling, adjusting each other’s hair and posing for selfies. It’s pretty typical, until you hear the dialogue.

“Fuck Facebook!” one says

“Censorship is bullshit!” barks another.

Yes, this is not just any group of women, and this is not just another gathering of friends. We’d all come together to attend the world premiere of Mary Janes: The Women of Weed at the Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 8, but we weren’t as happy as we should’ve been, given that we were hours away from our documentary debut.

As pioneers in an industry being reborn outside of prohibition in a society where women are rarely chosen to lead, we’re well seasoned in the ways of hypocrisy and cannabis. Yet, no matter how far we get forging the path to legitimacy, around every turn is a reminder that we can’t put down our machetes just yet.

On this day, our oppressor was Facebook. The social network had refused to allow ads for Mary Janes, because the film’s about marijuana. Let that sink …

Ross Rebagliati, the world’s first Olympic gold medalist for Men’s Snowboarding and a long-time cannabis activist, believes Olympic events should allow athletes access to cannabis if their countries of origin allow.

Ross Rebagliati had a cannabis business but Kelowna municipality in British Columbia shut it down in late 2017. (Photo via Ross’ Gold Facebook Page)

“Athletes from countries that allow [one of the many psychoactive compounds in marijuana] THC like Canada, America, and other countries in the world like Portugal and Spain, those Olympic athletes should be allowed to use cannabis because that is part of culture they live in,” the 47-year-old Rebagliati told The Puff Puff Post.

As thousands of international athletes ready up for the 2018 winter Olympics in South Korea’s PyeongChang, the trend to legalize marijuana is taking a sweeping effect around the globe.

In 2017, Uruguay became the first country in the world to legalize marijuana, influencing many others to accept cannabis use, at least medicinally. Such is the case in Mexico and Germany.

On Jan. 1, California lent its heavyweight population to be the eighth and the largest U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana. There is already a dozen of U.S. states that allow the medical use of marijuana.

In Portugal, which already has legal marijuana plantations destined for exports, the Doctors’ Association is calling for the legalization of marijuana-based medicines on Thursday. This is the same day parliament started to debate a draft bill that goes even further, seeking to allow patients to grow pot at home.

Moreover, Rebagliati’s home country – Canada – is expected to become the first developed nation to legalize recreational cannabis this summer.

Rebagliati made international headlines in 1998 not because he won the world’s first ever gold in Men’s Snowboarding for Canada in Nagano, Japan. Rebagliati’s gold medal was almost stripped away from him because the Olympics committee found traces of THC after

Cannabis may help in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, according to a new study published in the journalNeurotherapeutics and published online by the U.S. National Institute of Health.

“Previous studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the neuropathological basis of Parkinson’s disease (PD)”, begin’s the study’s abstract. “This study was designed to detect potential alterations in the cannabinoid receptors CB1 (CB1r) and CB2 (A isoform, CB2Ar), and in monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) gene expression in the substantia nigra (SN) and putamen (PUT) of patients with PD.”

According to researchers, the results of the present study “suggest that CB1r, CB2r, and MAGL are closely related to the neuropathological processes of PD.” Therefore, “the pharmacological modulation of these targets [such as through the consumption of cannabis] could represent a new potential therapeutic tool for the management of PD.”

For the full text of the study – conducted by researchers at Miguel Hernández University-CSIC, Instituto de Salud Carlos III and Universidad de Navarra – click here.

Oakland, California is tackling the diversity in cannabis issue head-on. Its Equity Program, passed by the City Council last March, was designed to help the city’s black and Latino residents, granting them 50% of new cannabis business permits for everything from cultivation to manufacturing.

As of Nov. 17, less than four months before adult-use marijuana became legal in California on Jan. 1, 129 of the 255 applications for cannabis-business permits in Oakland had comefrom equity candidates.

The lack of equity up until now is largely due to cities and states not allowing people with criminal records to work in the industry, hence shutting out many people from the racial and ethnic groups that have been disproportionately arrested and incarcerated for possession and sales. In 2011, 90% of all people arrested for marijuana in Oakland were black or Latino.

People from these two groups are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than whites are, even though use is about the same in each group. The Equity Program was created to deal with this disparity and act as a kind of reparation.

Alcoholics who use cannabis are less likely to have liver disease, according to a new study being published in the journal Liver International and epublished ahead of print by the U.S. National Institute of Health.

“Abusive alcohol use has well-established health risks including causing liver disease (ALD) characterized by alcoholic steatosis (AS), steatohepatitis (AH), fibrosis, cirrhosis (AC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)”, states the study’s abstract. “Strikingly, a significant number of individuals who abuse alcohol also use Cannabis, which has seen increased legalization globally. While cannabis has demonstrated anti-inflammatory properties, its combined use with alcohol and the development of liver disease remains unclear.” With this in mind, the aim of the study was to “determine the effects of cannabis use on the incidence of liver disease in individuals who abuse alcohol.

For the study, researchers analyzed “the 2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project – Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) discharge records of patients 18years and older, who had a past or current history of abusive alcohol use”. Using the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Edition codes, they “studied the four distinct phases of progressive ALD with respect to three cannabis exposure groups: non-cannabis-users (90.39%), non-dependent-cannabis-users (8.26%) and dependent cannabis users (1.36%).” Researchers “accounted for the complex survey sampling methodology and estimated the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) for developing AS, AH, AC and HCC with respect to cannabis use (SAS 9.4).”

The Hood Incubator in Oakland focuses on increasing the participation of black and brown communities in the cannabis industry.

There have been plenty of stories, blogs and social-media posts about the “whitewashing of the Green Rush.” For years, the Minority Cannabis Business Association and other groups have sounded the alarms about how this new wave of ganjapreneurs is distressingly monochromatic. Is anything actually being done?

Yes, things are being done. Oakland, California, which continues to be far ahead of any other municipality when it comes to cannabis, has approved a program that gives half of new city cannabusiness licenses to people with lower incomes or who live in the neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the War on Drugs.

Boston Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley is for equity in cannabis.

Massachusetts’ new adult-use pot law has a provision mandating outreach programs to the historically disenfranchised, and Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley has introduced legislation that would direct 20% of unspent revenues from state and local marijuana taxes toward programs aimed at social justice and creating more opportunities for people of color. Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have all enacted legislation designed to create more diversity in the cannabis industry. In fact, Pennsylvania requires businesses applying for medical-cannabis licenses to spell out their plan for ensuring a diverse workforce.

Women are taking the lead in cannabis industry in terms of diversity. They fill 36% of the executive positions, according to a 2015 Marijuana Business Daily survey. That’s significantly higher than the 22% national average in the non-weed world.

Lawmakers Fight for Federal Marijuana Protections

First passed in 2014, Rohrabacher-Blumenauer (then known as Rohrabacher-Farr) is an amendment to the annual appropriations bill that prohibits the Department of Justice from using federal funds to crack down on medical marijuana programs in the 29 states where it’s legal. In December, President Trump signed a stopgap funding bill that would extend these protections until Jan. 19.

For example, last August, a federal judge in San Francisco cited the amendment in a ruling that two California medical-marijuana growers who’d pleaded guilty to cultivation charges could not be sentenced to prison due to the amendment. And on Oct. 18, federal prosecutors in Washington State admitted that it prohibited them from prosecuting a group of medical growers known as the Kettle Falls Five.

Reps. McClintock and Polis Re-Introduce Their Amendment

Sessions’ decision to revoke federal protections in the eight legal recreational marijuana states has prompted a backlash in Congress. On Jan. 12, a bipartisan group of 69 members sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to include the McClintock-Polis amendment in the appropriations bill as well. Introduced by Reps. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.), its language is similar the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment’s, but it would also protect legal state recreational cannabis programs.

In addition, researchers found that “MMLs in inland states lead to a reduction in crime in the nearest border state. Our results are consistent with the theory that decriminalisation of the production and distribution of marijuana leads to a reduction in violent crime in markets that are traditionally controlled by Mexican drug trafficking organisations.”

Specifically, the study concludes that in states bordering Mexico, medical cannabis legalization reduced violent crime by 13% on average.

What are the differences between THC and CBD? Here’s a look.

When you first start smoking weed, you hear the acronyms THC and CBD a lot. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the two main active cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. There are over one hundre other cannbinoids such as THC-V, THC-A, and CBN, but if you’re first starting out you should primarily concern yourself with the first two, at least for now. Cannabinoids are these neat little compounds that interact with the endocannabinoids that naturally occur in your body. Though they are both cannabinoids, there are quite a few differences between THC and CBD. For instance…

CBD is Non Psychoactive

This is one of the biggest differences between THC and CBD. THC is the psychoactive cannabinoid; it’s the one that gets you baked. You know that heavy and relaxing feeling that you get after smoking some OG Kush? That can be attributed to THC. CBD on the other hand, is considered to be non psychoactive. This doesn’t mean that you feel nothing after using a high CBD strain or oil, quite the contrary. You won’t experience a noticeable change in your mood, but your body will feel uplifted and just all around. If you were feeling like you’re coming down with a cold prior to smoking, CBD will make you feel better almost instantly. Hence one of the reasons why CBD strains are more popular among medical cannabis users

CBD has Antipsychotic Properties

Sometimes when you smoke a high THC strain you might feel a little off. You might feel a little paranoid, you might have trouble concentrating, maybe your brain feels a little too slowed down, or maybe you feel dizzy. Regardless the effect, it seems that you got too high. The nice thing about CBD is that it can counteract some of those negative effects, and in some cases erase them entirely. …

There’s a diversity problem in the cannabis industry. Many have already experienced the lack of diversity in other industries, so this story is not new. But why is this so important now? People of color, women and LGBTQ communities have decided about the cannabis industry, “Not again, not this time. We’re going to change this narrative.”

As a black woman of Afro-Latina decent, I’m unapologetic about entering a room and looking for color first. I’m seeking familiar faces, reflections of myself, a commonality and a welcoming nod that says, “I acknowledge you.” For far too long, whether in my professional or personal life, white people have ignored or overlooked me, so the nod lets me know I’m not alone. I also look for women and representation from the LGBTQ community. Yes, I conduct a tally, because I purposely want to know who’s in the room. The same is true when I attend conferences. I want to see who the speakers are and if they reflect our communities.

A Fast Company article in 2015 stated that millennials view diversity as blended experiences, cultures and perspectives. I agree. Our diverse cultures and backgrounds certainly bring a unique richness to the table. That said, it’s our responsibility to hold people and businesses accountable when there’s an imbalance. Being diverse is smart business; just look at TV commercials, and print and digital ads. Society has forced big business into diversity and inclusion—which ultimately benefits consumers and businesses’ global reach.

Many have asked me why I work for Women Grow. The simple answer is I saw where I could make a difference. Together with our CEO, Kristina Garcia (formerly Neoushoff), and our amazing market leaders, we’re committed to seeing change in the cannabis industry. This year, we’ve assembled the most diverse market-leadership and headquarters teams since our inception in 2014. We still have work to do, but I believe we will get there …

Two Massachusetts ganja growers are facing federal felony charges after one of them “was featured in a magazine article noting that he regularly harvests 10 pounds of marijuana,” according to prosecutors.

“Yes, they were featured in High Times,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston tells Freedom Leaf. “That was a part of how they were spotted.”

The two were first raided in February, shortly after Vallee’s garden was featured in the High Times article, “New England’s Patriot Pot Growers.” The story explained that “Eric regularly harvests 10 pounds of medical cannabis from a space that has just 16 plants under four 1,000-watt HPS lights with a two-and-a-half-week vegetative time.” It also noted that he’d won several Cannabis Cups and worked with Molle.

Cannabis use, even on a regular basis, does not reduce motivation in adolescents, according to a new study published by the journal Substance Use & Misuse and published online by the National Institute of Health.

For the study, researchers examined 79 adolescents ages 14 to 18, who were “classified as recent regular cannabis users (36) or light users (43).” Frequency and amount of substance use “were assessed across participants’ lifetime and during the past 30 days”, and motivation was measured “through the Apathy Evaluation Scale and Motivation and Engagement Scale.” To examine associations between cannabis use (CU) and motivation indices, researchers conducted a series of two-step hierarchical multiple regressions.

After controlling for confounds, “no significant differences were observed between regular and light users on any motivation index”, states the study. Similarly, “no associations between motivation and lifetime or past 30-day CU amount were observed”.

The study concludes by stating; “Our findings do not support a link between reduced motivation and CU among adolescents after controlling for relevant confounds.”

The full study, conducted by researchers at Florida International University, can be found by clicking here.

RFID chips (for Radio Frequency Identification) do as their name implies: They identify the plant, the package of bulk flowers, and the pre-rolled joints, edibles and concentrates made from the flowers. Because the numbers are related to one another, it’s possible to trace a pre-rolled joint back to the plant from which it came.

1. Each marijuana plant being grown by a licensed grower is given a unique identifying number that’s at least 16 digits long, which is recorded onto an RFID chip.

2. Information about the plant, such as strain name, cultivation techniques and yield, is recorded by the growers and input into a database.

3. These databases reside on the “cloud,” which really just means an off-site server. This allows growers, as well as state agencies, to check on plants remotely.

4. The flowers harvested from a plant are given a unique identifying number that’s related to the plant’s unique ID, as are the leaves and the waste matter, such as stems. Those numbers are recorded onto the chips, which are then attached to containers holding the flowers, leaves or waste …

DR. DINA BROWNER

• On being a cannabis consultant for TV shows and movies: “It’s fun and exciting, but representing the industry I love can be stressful. Working on Disjointed required me to be present in the writers’ room to help guide them along, using my 15 years of cannabis-industry experiences. I worked with wardrobe, set designers and the prop department to make sure everything on set felt as authentic as possible. I was on set during rehearsals and tapings to work directly with the cast. It’s so important for the actors to feel comfortable, which is why I had them all spend time inside my real dispensary in West Hollywood.”

• On making the move to recreational sales: “We’re lucky to be located in a very progressive city. West Hollywood gave us a business permit back in 2005, so we’re one of the only four licensed dispensaries in all of Los Angeles. We’re ready for 2018, just in time to celebrate Season 2 of Disjointed on Jan. 12.”

• On women in cannabis: “Sorry boys, the ladies are taking over! Traditionally, men grew and sold cannabis while the women stayed home with the kids. If there was a bust and the man was arrested, the kids still had at least one parent to care for them. Once medical marijuana became widely accepted and legal, more and more women began working as budtenders. Now we’re entrepreneurs, growers and dispensary owners. Not only are women more nurturing, we’re the ones who purchase most of the items for their households. It only makes sense to start marketing to us. We’ve made huge strides in a short amount of time, and I’m so happy to be part of this groundbreaking industry.”

A study published by Indiana University South Bend found that cannabis use is associated with decreased rates of mortality from obesity, diabetes mellitus, taumatic brain injury, use of alcohol and prescription drugs, driving fatalities, and opioid overdose deaths.

According to the study, there would be “an estimated 23,500 to 47,500 deaths prevented annually if medical marijuana were legal nationwide”, and cannabis prohibition “is revealed as a major cause of premature death in the U.S.”

The statewide legalization of medical marijuana is associated with a reduction in hospitalization from opioids, according to a study conducted at the University of California, and published by both the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependency and the National Institute of Health.

According to a study by BDS Analytics; “Cannabis consumers, it turns out, are among the most well-adjusted and successful of American adults, based on results from BDS Analytics’ landmark cannabis consumer research study, the first of its kind in history. The ongoing study is the most comprehensive and detailed look at cannabis consumers ever conducted.”

Cannabis may provide a treatment option for pulmonary fibrosis, according to a new study published by the journal Oncotarget and published online by the U.S. National Institute of Health.

According to Mayo Clinic, pulmonary fibrosis is “a lung disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred. This thickened, stiff tissue makes it more difficult for your lungs to work properly.” As pulmonary fibrosis worsens, “you become progressively more short of breath.”

The study’s abstract begins by stating that; “Activation of cannabinoid receptor type 2 [something done naturally through cannabis consumption] has been shown to have anti-fibrosis function in skin and heart. However, whether activating cannabinoid receptor type 2 inhibits pulmonary fibrosis remains elusive.” In this study, researchers “aimed to investigate the role of cannabinoid receptor type 2 in pulmonary fibrosis in vitro and in vivo.”

After conducting their investigation, researchers found the data to indicate that “activating cannabinoid receptor type 2 by a pharmacological method might be a potential strategy for pulmonary fibrosis”.

The full study, conducted by researchers at the Capital Medical University is Bejing, China, can be found by clicking here.